I've enjoyed Twitter for personal use for a few years. Earlier this year, I took a self-taught approach to learn more about how Twitter can be used for personal branding as well as corporate purposes. I quickly discovered that there are a lot of self-described social media experts in the Twitterverse. Many claim to be able teach the mysterious ways of social media and label themselves as ninjas, Jedi and gurus. But I've also learned that the real social media gurus don't have to tell you that they're social media gurus.
Fake gurus all seem to use the same techniques:
They obviously buy the majority of their followers
They operate multiple but similar accounts
They ask you to connect on every other social media platform
They avoid periods of Twitter "silence" (apparently a big no-no) by posting inspirational quotes.
Here are some sample Tweets from a "guru" that I come across frequently. Notice that despite Tweeting from different accounts, they all feature the same message and all hit my feed at the exact same time.
Here's another guru that doesn't even bother to cite his "inspirational" quote - and this person does this quite often.
"Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.",
— Robert G Williams (@RobertGWilliam1) April 9, 2013
These are definitely two of my social media pet peeves. But don't let this discourage you. There are lots of people that know their stuff and are happy to interact on Twitter - all you have to do is drop them a line. Just remember the rule of thumb: if they say they're a guru, they probably aren't!
I'm far from guru status but I'd like to connect with you on Twitter - - @Nick_Baggett. Look me up and be sure to let me know about your experiences with social media gurus in the comments section below!
Sure, I have my preferences when it comes to social media. But I don’t hold one social media tool above any of its peers. I think they all have their own niche and each help companies cast their messages in different ways. We all seem to learn the ropes of social media through the use of our personal Facebook pages and when some of us become responsible for a company’s social media presence, Facebook is relied on as the main building block. This approach leads to companies Tweeting from Facebook, my biggest social media pet peeve.
Linking a company’s Facebook Fan Page to company’s Twitter Page happens much more frequently than the opposite of that arrangement – or it seems that way to me. I’ve posted some examples of what a company’s Facebook status update looks like when it’s piped through their Twitter accounts.
(DISCLAIMER:Use of these examples does not indicate that I dislike the products or service provided by these fine companies. To be fair, I will include their commercials at the end of this post.)
Click "Like" if you have signed up for Jack's Red Dot Deal!
If not no worries click the link below and sign up... http://t.co/3GNmsRQkCu
— Jack's (@eatatjacks) April 16, 2013
SO WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS METHOD?
Nothing, technically. It gets the job done. But consider this:
Clicking on these links when using a smartphone will display the photo or message through a separate viewing page powered by Facebook, adding precious seconds to the viewing experience. And we all know that a few seconds means a lot in this age of instant gratification.
As seen in the middle example, this method portrays the action of an individual. This may or may not work for your company image.
Relying on this method puts all of your eggs in the same Facebook basket, if you will. The good people at Jack’s understand the value of marketing, as clearly seen in their well-done campaign to celebrate their 50th anniversaryin 2011. That’s why the corner-cutting done by Jack’s seems very odd to me.
WHAT WOULD I SUGGEST?
Rather than sending your messages through one social media platform, I would suggest using a social media dashboard like Hootsuite to simultaneously post messages to all (or just a few) of your social media pages. There are many more features of Hootsuite that I enjoy for personal and business use – but I’ll save that post for later. Hootsuite is a great management tool and helps users overcome the issues that may come about from linking other social media accounts to Facebook.
Here are the videos I promised for these companies. I really do enjoy their food!
MOES ORIGINAL BBQ –
JACK’S –
Am I overreacting? Is this social media pet peeve too picky? Let me know in the comments and share your social media pet peeves too!
